Ready to live

Hey Peoria,

Today was another fantastic day for the purple team. We went to RiverPlex to wash cars, and for a time it looked like no one was going to come. Then people began to come out from their workouts and we started getting people to claim their free car wash. I was holding one of the signs in front of the plex and people would come up to me, asking me questions like…

“Who is sponsoring this?”

“Why are you guys down here?”

And my favorite…”How much does it cost?”

When I told them that it was free, people would often look at me skeptically and say, “Yeah, but you want donations right?” Shaking my head along with my friend Becka, we would smile and inform them that it was our gift to them.

One man in particular, as he came out the door, looked like he was in severe pain. Walking over to him, I asked if he needed anything. He looked straight at me, smiled and asked, “You’re with a Christian group right?” I nodded, and his grin got wider.

“Well darlin’, I ain’t much of a Christian or nothing, but I could sure use some prayer right about now. I got a whole lotta problems with my body that are keeping me from doing everything I want to do. Would you do that for me?”

Well, needless to say I was very nervous. I don’t really have a way with words, but I persisted, remembering what I learned this week: You can’t misquote “I Love Jesus”. So I prayed along with him, praying for his health, his family, his frustration with the world. At the end he kept his head down and began to shed a few tears.

I asked him what was wrong, and he chuckled while still weeping and said, “Sweetie, would you pray with me again? I think I’d like to ask Jesus into my life now. I know we ain’t in church, so I don’t know if that’s allowed, but I really want to do it right now.”

Bursting into tears and with a shaky voice, I prayed that special prayer with him, praying with him as he accepted Christ for the first time. Still weeping, we eventually said goodbye and parted ways, but I doubt I’ll ever forget that man or why God brought him into my life. Please pray that he goes on to bring others to Christ, as his own love for Jesus grows in the future.